A Religious Experience

I was not leaving Milan without seeing The Last Supper.  In making the most of our time here, I booked a full day tour of the city which included visiting Leonardo’s masterpiece and a tour of the Duomo which we only visited for Mass yesterday.  In addition, we were treated to the Sforza Castle and the San Mauricio al Monastero Maggiore which is a church attached to the most important convent of the Benedictines in Milan.  Charles pointed out a few secular items along the way, including a somewhat irreverent third finger raised in salute to the Stock Exchange and a huge colorful sculpture of a needle and thread, a presumed homage to the fashion and design capital of the world.

There is a new district in Milan, the Porta Nuova, begun in the late ‘90’s.  It is now considered Europe’s richest district within any city, housing several Fortune 500 companies and various fashion companies.  For me, the most interesting part of this neighborhood are the 2 apartment buildings known as the Vertical Forest.

We traveled by foot, by cable car and by underground which was another added experience.

Charles, our guide, is extremely knowledgeable and spoke fluent English, despite being a Frenchman living in Italy for 10 years now.  I so envy these multi lingual people.  We Americans can barely speak English.  Shame on us.  Charles is also quite funny which added color to our tour.

As we spent our 15 minutes with The Last Supper, I glanced around to see people wiping tears from their eyes.  I thought I was the only one!  Charles explained many of the particulars of this masterpiece prior to and after our viewing time and so the insight of this great painter is even more awe inspiring.  To see how DaVinci, a man of the 15th century, captured the essence of our Mass and the foreshadowing of the betrayal of Jesus with such insight, left me so moved.

For my Jewish family, notice the knot and table adorned with blu such as those embellishments on a Tallis....

Recognize her?  The inspiration for our Statue of Liberty adorning the Duomo.

A plaque to commemorate the hospital that Ernest Hemingway drove for during the war and then was a patient in.

We returned for dinner to what I know would be our favorite neighborhood restaurant if we were to spend more time here.  It was easy and good and inviting after such a long, hot day...although no where as hot as my dear Californians have been this past week.

We are ready to come home now but not looking forward to 9 hours from Milan to Newark with a 1 1/2 hour layover and then a 6 hour flight to LA.  Oh well, the price of living on the left coast.

Thank you to all of you who have read my blog.  I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us.  I love writing and planting bits of humor along the way.